Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
An actor and singer.
On the island
Eight records
Hayu LeilotFavourite
I obviously wanted uh to have with me some Israeli songs and I think that I chose the best voice that we ever produced and it's Esther O'Farim.
My second record is probably the first foreign artist I uh ever met and it was uh Denny Kaye ... And uh I'd love to hear Tchaikovsky that he does so well.
It's a very sad song about Barbara from the town of Brest that was destroyed to the ground in Second World War.
He is thinking it ain't necessarily so from Poggy and Bess.
Sonata for Violin and Guitar No. 1
Itzhak Perlman and John Williams
I think it sounds beautiful and uh it's a very unusual combination of a guitar and uh and violin. And I admire those two artists.
Concerto for Three Violins in F major, RV 551: II. Andante
I would definitely would celebrate with uh Isaac Stern and with the Pinky Tsuckermann and uh Zubin Mehta who conducted it.
Pablo Casals with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Landon Ronald
I think that the musical experience of Cornley Dre, which is probably the most sacred prayer of a Jew, I would take it with me.
Octet for Strings in E-flat major, Op. 20
Strings of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zubin Mehta
Galia, my dear friend and wife, would cry every time ... she hears that record ... And on moody nights when I want to escape and I can't, I would listen to that.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:34How much of a musician are you? Can you play an instrument? Can you read music?
No. And I have to point out that I actually was deprived of music until uh the age of twelve, let's say. I mean, we didn't have a radio in our house, so music was for me um noise, uh although an organized noise, but still noise. And uh it's really thanks to my uh dear friend and wife, Galia, she somehow educated me in that field.
Presenter asks
2:33I believe your father did some work smuggling [illegal immigrants] into Israel?
Well, part of his job in Down Underground was uh getting in what you called the British illegal immigrants, and we thought they were very legal.
Presenter asks
3:21Were you fascinated by the theater at that age [thirteen]?
Yes, but not as a profession. I mean, I never thought that I'll become a an actor. I mean, I I was an organizer rather than an actor, but because I couldn't find uh a better actor, I played a lead.
The keepsakes
The book
Great Treasury of Western Thought
Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren
Which I can't say sums up the Western thought or the Western civilization, but it definitely gives you a taste of it.
The luxury
An artist's kit (easel, paints, pencils, paper)
Not too practical, but uh it'll help to pass the time.
Presenter asks
You volunteered as a paratrooper but they made you an actor. [Why?]
Yes, that was because uh I had a very strong voice and uh when we were running or jumping or training uh we always used to sing and my voice was heard above uh the others and And then of course I used to tell jokes ... and when I finished the uh Commander's course ... I uh was called to headquarters and was told that my next job is uh joining the entertainment troop, which was a very big disappointment for me, but definitely ... Established a new course to my life.
Presenter asks
14:24What did you think of [Zero Mostel in Fiddler on the Roof] when you saw it first?
Well, when I saw it first ... I went to see it at a Martine in Zero. Who is Definitely a genius ... Edette Martine took liberties and played it to the old ladies in the audience referring to their husbands and cracking all kind of jokes that I didn't like, which had nothing to do with the play and I didn't think too much of the play, at least the way it was played there. So I answered back, no, no way, it won't work in Tel Aviv and it won't work anywhere. It's a bad New York play and only there it can work.
Presenter asks
16:45What happened when you turned up at the audition [for the London production of Fiddler on the Roof]?
Well, uh it was a big, big disappointment. Actually, we had lunch together at the Garrick Club today and there came in the producer, Richard Pilbrough, who was very, very brave ... I still don't understand how they let me have the part.
“I actually was deprived of music until uh the age of twelve, let's say. I mean, we didn't have a radio in our house, so music was for me um noise, uh although an organized noise, but still noise.”
“I think that just a comedian is uh as important, if not more difficult, than just an actor, a straight actor.”
“I still think that they were very brave to let me have that part. I mean, considering that I was thirty years old, considering that my English was uh so limited to uh a vocabulary of fifty words, I still don't understand how they let me have the part.”